Description:	CD on 4AD
	Format:	CD
	Genre(s):	Neoclassical
	Label:	4AD
	Price:	£11.99
	Availability:	Dispatched within 2-5 days (on average).

5
...according to our Brian on 30 October 2008.

Johann Johannsson. Well if ever a man was to forget his own name, this chap would only have to remember half of it to re-assemble his whole being. He's on 4AD with this album 'Fordlandia' and i'm rather taken aback by this Icelanders' modern classical/ambient sound galaxy. With a nostalgic look at presumably the days of the Ford phenomenon and technology in it's fascinating infancy, this is a deeply profound "soundtrack" brimming with hefty waves of sombre strings, heartbreaking piano and sad eyed electronic flourishes, embellished with pipe organ, clarinet & allsorts of orchestral delights sourced from around Europe's darker recesses. It's an album of high drama & serious gravity, incredibly moving; in places almost funereally sorrowful; but for those let down by the relative briefness of the last Max Richter album and it's fluttering vignettes, this haunting, beefy opus of a concept album should fill in those melancholic mood gaps in your life. Lovely work!

Love this record? Hate it? Tell us.

Sound clips for Fordlandia by Johann Johannsson: on CD at Norman Records UK. CD, 4AD, CAD2812CD , £11.99.

What their label says...

Jóhann Jóhannsson makes stately, slow-building and
hauntingly melodic music – frequently combining electronic
processing with classical orchestrations - that has been
bewitching listeners for the last few years. His first two solo
records – ‘Englabörn’ (2002), and ‘Virthulegu Forsetar’
(2004) – were released by the singular British independent
Touch label.
· Jóhann’s first release for 4AD, ‘IBM 1401, A User’s
Manual’ (2006) involved a sixty-piece string orchestra
recorded at Prague’s legendary Barrandov sound stage and
incorporated electronics and vintage reel-to-reel recordings of
a 1960s IBM 1401 mainframe computer and its accompanying
instruction manual.
· Following ‘IBM 1401, A User’s Manual’, ‘Fordlândia’ is the
second in a proposed trilogy based on technology and iconic
American brand names. ‘Fordlândia’ is Jóhann
Jóhannsson’s most complete and beautiful piece of
music to date, a fascinating, immersive and deeply
rewarding web of ideas and melodies, which is sure to win
him a legion of new listeners.